Stable mounting system for seatback shelving

ABSTRACT

This invention relates to a mechanism for attaching shelving, hooks, and organizers to a vehicle seatback. The attachment mechanism fits over the vehicle seat headrest posts, providing stability to the shelving, hooks, or organizers. The mechanism is formed as a single piece, thus it can be installed and removed without any additional components such as screws, bolts, straps, or other parts.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No.13/789,771, filed Mar. 8, 2013, which issued on Jul. 26, 2016 as U.S.Pat. No. 9,399,432, and which is incorporated by reference for allpurposes.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

There are a number of shelving and organizer systems available whichmount to the back of the front seat of a motor vehicle. By way ofexample, these systems may allow a passenger in the back seat to watch amovie on a portable video player placed on a shelf mounted to theseatback, place food or beverages on a shelf mounted to the seatback,use such a shelf as a desktop or workplace, or attach storage or trashcontainers to the seatback.

There are a number of mechanisms for temporarily attaching these systemsto the seatback without modifying the vehicle, including straps thatwrap around the headrest, plastic or cloth cords that wrap around theheadrest posts, and hooks that go over the seat itself. However, thesemechanisms can loosen, they can interfere with the comfort of the frontseat passenger, and since they are not fixed in place, they can moveunexpectedly as the vehicle starts, stops, or turns sharply. One recentpatent application (U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/661,931)discloses a mechanism where two attachment members slip over the twoheadrest posts. Because each of the attachment members have at least twopoints of contact with the headrest post, the mechanism is less likelyto move unexpectedly as the vehicle starts, stops, or turns sharply.However, this mechanism requires a number of additional parts—washers,nuts, bolts, and the like—in order to fix the position of the twoattachment members. Not only do these additional parts lead toadditional labor when installing and removing the system, they also caneasily be dropped between seats or misplaced while not in use.

What is needed, therefore, is a mechanism for attaching shelving, hooks,and organizers to a seatback that provides stability, can be easilyinstalled and removed, and yet uses a minimum of parts.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention discloses a mechanism for attaching shelving,hooks, and organizer units to a seatback that provides stability, can beeasily installed and removed, and uses a minimum number of parts. In oneembodiment of the invention, the mechanism is formed as part of a singlepiece of material with varying thickness (height) characteristics. Oneend (the “attachment portion”) interfaces with the headrest post on thefront seatback, the other end (the “utility portion”) provides shelving,organizer units, or other passenger amenities. In this embodiment, theattachment portion has a generally-round hole, the hole being slightlylarger than the size of a seat headrest post. Adjacent to the hole, theattachment portion has a slot, substantially wider than the size of aheadrest post in one dimension and slightly larger than the size of aheadrest post in the other dimension. The slot is located at a distancefrom the first hole such that with the headrest removed, the attachmentportion can accommodate the two headrest posts, with one post passingthrough the hole and the other post passing through the slot. Becauseone of the holes is about the size of the headrest post while the slotis substantially wider than the hole, the mechanism fits the headrestposts irrespective of the distance between the headrest posts. Further,because the first hole is only slightly larger than the headrest post,left-to-right and front-to-back movement is restricted. Further, becausethe attachment portion has thickness (height), movement around an axisbetween the headrest posts is limited. And finally, once the headrest isreplaced, up and down movement is further restricted. The utilityportion can be formed to accommodate various passenger access positionsand, for example, a shelf for a portable DVD player. Thus, thisembodiment provides a simple, stable, easily-installed, headrest-mountedshelf without the need for any components other than the shelf itself.Other variations are set forth in the Detailed Description of theInvention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows a top view of a portion of an embodiment of the presentinvention.

FIG. 2 shows a side view of a portion of an embodiment of the presentinvention.

FIG. 3 shows a side view of a portion of another embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIG. 4 shows a side view of a portion of another embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIG. 5a shows an angled view of a portion of an embodiment of thepresent invention after it has been installed onto the seat but beforethe headrest has been reinstalled, and FIG. 5b shows the same embodimentafter the headrest has been reinstalled.

FIG. 6 shows a top view of a portion of an embodiment of the presentinvention.

FIG. 7 shows a side view of an embodiment of the present invention,suitable for use with a portable DVD player.

FIG. 8 shows a side view of an embodiment of the present invention,suitable for use with a tablet computer.

FIG. 9 shows a side view of an embodiment of the present invention,suitable for use with a backseat organizer.

FIG. 10 shows a side view of an embodiment of the present invention,suitable for use as a food and beverage shelf.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

FIG. 1 shows a top view of Unit 100 in an embodiment of the presentinvention. The Attachment Portion 101 of Unit 100 is positioned withrespect to the vehicle as indicated by the “front” arrow, and theUtility Portion 102 of Unit 100 is positioned with respect to thevehicle as indicated by the “back” arrow (Utility Portion 102 is notshown in FIG. 1). Hole 103 is substantially round, about 0.70 indiameter, about 1.00 inch from the front of Attachment Portion 101, andabout 1.25 inch from the right side of Attachment Portion 101. Hole 103passes entirely through Attachment Portion 101. Slot 104 is about 0.70inch from front to back, about 5.00 inches wide, about too inch from thefront of Attachment Portion 101, and about 1.25 inches from the leftside of Attachment Portion 101. Slot 104 passes entirely throughAttachment Portion 101. Obviously, Hole 103 could be positioned on theleft side of Attachment Portion 101 and Slot 104 could be positioned onthe right side of Attachment Portion 101 without affecting theinvention. Further, Hole 103 and Slot 104 could be larger or smaller toaccommodate different sized and spaced headrest posts, with the width ofAttachment Portion 101 varying to accommodate Hole 103 and Slot 104.

FIG. 2 shows a side view of Unit 100 in an embodiment of the presentinvention. Attachment Portion 101 is about 2.00 inches thick where Hole103 and Slot 104 pass through Attachment Portion 101 (Hole 103 is shownin outline in FIG. 2). Utility Portion 102 is about 0.25 inch thick. Inthe embodiment shown in FIG. 2, Utility Portion 102 is bent in an “L”shaped, comprising Shelf Support 102 a and Shelf 102 b, Shelf Support102 a and Shelf 102 b being perpendicular with each other, and ShelfSupport 102 a being joined with the back of Attachment Portion 101;however, in other embodiments (not shown), Shelf Support 102 a could beattached at any angle with respect to the back of Attachment Portion101. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 2, the Utility Portion 102 isparallel to Attachment Portion 101; however, in other embodiments,Utility Portion 102 could be at a different angle to accommodatedifferent functionalities. By way of example and not limitation, ifUtility Portion 102 is to be used as a video player shelf, UtilityPortion 102 could be angled to accommodate a comfortable viewing anglefor the back seat passenger.

In another embodiment of the present invention, shown in FIG. 3, Unit100 is made of a single piece of rigid plastic material. In thisembodiment, the required thickness of Attachment Portion 101 is achievedby bending the plastic in a U-shape. Attachment Portion 101 is made of0.25 inch thick plastic, but because of the U-shape, it is effectivelyabout 1.00 inch thick where Hole 103 and Slot 104 pass throughAttachment Portion 101 (Hole 103 is shown in outline in FIG. 3). Thisembodiment has the advantage of using a single piece of material ratherthan two pieces of material that need to be attached. However, dependingon the materials and tooling costs, the manufacturing costs associatedwith forming the U-shaped bend may outweigh the costs of joining aseparate Attachment Portion 101 and Utility Portion 102.

In another embodiment of the present invention, shown in FIG. 4, Unit100 is made of a single piece of molded rigid material. In thisembodiment, the required thickness of Attachment Portion 101 is achievedby having a thicker portion of the mold, and the shape of UtilityPortion 102 is achieved by using a mold shaped for the desiredfunctionality.

In each of the foregoing embodiments, Unit 100 is made from any rigidmaterial that can be manipulated in a manner suitable for the givenembodiment. By way of example and not limitation, it could be made fromacrylonitrile butadiene styrene, polycarbonate, acrylic, and the like.In those embodiments in which Unit 100 is made of multiple components,the components could be joined using methods known in the art, such asusing a solvent or using welding methods. In addition to using rigidplastic materials, Unit 100 could be made of a composite material, suchas fiberglass, that could be molded into the desired shape.

FIG. 5a shows an angled view of installation of Unit 100 over headrestPosts 303 and 304 (Headrest 301, not shown, has been removed from Seat300). Unit 100 is aligned with the seat such that Hole 103 and Slot 104align with Posts 303 and 304, respectively, and Unit 100 is lowered withPosts 303 and 304 going through Hole 103 and Slot 104 until Unit 100comes to rest against the top of Seat 300.

FIG. 5b shows an angled view of Unit 100 after Headrest 301 has beenplace back over Posts 303 and 304. Because Headrest 301 is pushed downover Unit 100 will not move significantly in the Z direction (althoughif Headrest 301 is raised, Unit 100 may move somewhat in the Zdirection, but its movement will be limited by Headrest 300). Because ofthe thickness of Unit 100 where Posts 303 and 304 pass through Hole 103and Slot 104, Unit 100 will not rotate significantly around the X axis(running parallel to Unit 100 between Hole 103 and Slot 104). BecauseHole 103 is roughly the same diameter as Post 303, Unit 100 will notmove significantly in the X direction. Because Hole 103 and Slot 104 areroughly the same width as Posts 303 and 304, Unit 100 will not movesignificantly in the Y direction.

In each of the foregoing embodiments, installation of the unit requiresthat the consumer remove the headrest. However, in some vehicles, theconsumer can raise or lower, but not remove, the headrest. FIG. 6 showsan embodiment of the present invention suitable for such vehicles. Inthis embodiment, Attachment Portion 401 has a straight Slot 404 thatopens on the right side of Attachment Portion 401 and a curved Slot 403that opens on the front side of Attachment Portion 401. In thisembodiment, the consumer installs Unit 400 by sliding Slot 404 throughthe right headrest post at an angle until Slot 403 reaches the leftheadrest post; the consumer slides the left headrest post through Slot403 until the post reaches the innermost portion of Slot 403. Slot 403is spiral-shaped to limit the amount of movement along the x- andy-axes.

FIGS. 7-10 show a number of variations on Utility Portion 102; thesevariations are shown using the first embodiment of Attachment Portion101, however, it should be clear that any of the embodiments ofAttachment Portion 101 can be used.

In FIG. 7, Utility Portion 102 comprises a Shelf 104, upon which theconsumer could place an Entertainment System 105 such as a portable DVDplayer or video game display onto Shelf 104, which could be angled sothat Entertainment System 105 or would be at a comfortable viewingposition for the back seat passenger (as suggested by the outline formof Entertainment System 105).

In FIG. 8, Utility Portion 102 comprises a Slot 106 where the consumercould place Tablet Computer 107 into Slot 106. Slot 106 would be angledso that Tablet Computer 107 would be at a comfortable viewing positionfor the consumer (as suggested by the outline form of Tablet Computer107).

In FIG. 9, Utility Portion 102 comprises a Hook 108, from which theconsumer could hang a backseat Organizer 109, Backpack no or Handbag 111(as suggested by the outline form of Handbag in).

In FIG. 10, Utility Portion 102 comprises Shelf 112 which comprises Lip113 and Cup Holder 114 so that the consumer could place food and abeverage on Shelf 112.

While specific embodiments have been illustrated and described, numerousmodifications come to mind without significantly departing from thespirit of the invention, and the scope of protection is only limited bythe scope of the accompanying Claims.

The invention claimed is:
 1. A vehicle headrest-mountable portable DVDplayer shelf system comprising: a substantially-flat attachment portionhaving a top surface and a bottom surface, and comprising a hole and aslot, the hole and slot passing from the top surface to the bottomsurface, where the hole and slot are spaced at a suitable distance withrespect to each other to receive two headrest posts from a first vehicleseat extending through the hole and slot, the hole is slightly largerthan the diameter of the first headrest post, the slot is, in onedimension, slightly larger than the diameter of the second headrestpost, and in a second dimension, wide enough to accommodate varyingdistances between the first headrest post and the second headrest post,such that when the headrest posts are inserted into the hole and slot,the attachment portion does not require additional parts to preventsubstantial movement of the attachment portion in any direction parallelwith the attachment portion, and the attachment portion is sufficientlythick such that, when the system is installed over the headrest posts,the system does not require additional parts to prevent substantialrotation of the attachment portion along an axis between the hole andthe slot; and a utility portion comprising a shelf and a shelf support,where the shelf is generally parallel with the attachment portion and ofsufficient size and shape to accommodate a portable DVD player and theshelf support is positioned between and generally perpendicular to theattachment portion and the shelf; where the utility portion andattachment portion comprise a single piece of rigid material; and wherewhen the system is installed over the headrest posts, the utilityportion extends away from the attachment portion and towards a secondvehicle seat directly behind the first vehicle seat.
 2. The shelf systemof claim 1, where the attachment portion is thicker than the utilityportion.
 3. The shelf system of claim 1, where attachment portion,shelf, and shelf support have been joined together using a solvent toform the single piece of rigid material.
 4. The shelf system of claim 1,where attachment portion, shelf, and shelf support have been weldedtogether to form the single piece of rigid material.
 5. The shelf systemof claim 1, where attachment portion, shelf, and shelf support have beenformed from a solid piece of rigid material bent to form the generallyperpendicular angles between the shelf and shelf support and between theattachment portion and shelf support.
 6. The shelf system of claim 1,where attachment portion, shelf, and shelf support have been molded toform the single piece of rigid material.
 7. A vehicle headrest-mountabletablet computer shelf system comprising: a substantially-flat attachmentportion having a top surface and a bottom surface, and comprising a holeand a slot, the hole and slot passing from the top surface to the bottomsurface, where the hole and slot are spaced at a suitable distance withrespect to each other to receive two headrest posts from a first vehicleseat extending through the hole and slot, the hole is slightly largerthan the diameter of the first headrest post, the slot is, in onedimension, slightly larger than the diameter of the second headrestpost, and in a second dimension, wide enough to accommodate varyingdistances between the first headrest post and the second headrest post,such that when the headrest posts are inserted into the hole and slot,the attachment portion does not require additional parts to preventsubstantial movement of the attachment portion in any direction parallelwith the attachment portion, and the attachment portion is sufficientlythick such that, when the system is installed over the headrest posts,the system does not require additional parts to prevent substantialrotation of the attachment portion along an axis between the hole andthe slot; and a utility portion comprising a shelf and a shelf support,where the shelf support is positioned between the attachment portion andthe shelf, the shelf support is substantially perpendicular to theattachment portion, the shelf has sufficient width to accommodate atablet computer, and the shelf comprises an upward-angled lip on thedistal portion, with respect to the shelf support, to limit motion ofthe tablet computer; where the utility portion and attachment portioncomprise a single piece of rigid material; and where when the system isinstalled over the headrest posts, the utility portion extends away fromthe attachment portion and towards a second vehicle seat directly behindthe first vehicle seat.
 8. The shelf system of claim 7, where theattachment portion is thicker than the utility portion.
 9. The shelfsystem of claim 7, where attachment portion, shelf, and shelf supporthave been joined together using a solvent to form the single piece ofrigid material.
 10. The shelf system of claim 7, where attachmentportion, shelf, and shelf support have been welded together to form thesingle piece of rigid material.
 11. The shelf system of claim 7, whereattachment portion, shelf, and shelf support have been formed from asolid piece of rigid material bent to form the generally perpendicularangle between the attachment portion and shelf support.
 12. The shelfsystem of claim 7, where attachment portion, shelf, and shelf supporthave been molded to form the single piece of rigid material.
 13. Avehicle headrest-mountable tablet computer shelf system comprising: asubstantially-flat attachment portion having a top and bottom surface,and comprising a hole and a slot, the hole and slot passing from the topsurface to the bottom surface, where the hole and slot are spaced at asuitable distance with respect to each other to receive two headrestposts from a first vehicle seat extending through the hole and slot, thehole is slightly larger than the diameter of the first headrest post,the slot is, in one dimension, slightly larger than the diameter of thesecond headrest post, and in a second dimension, wide enough toaccommodate varying distances between the first headrest post and thesecond headrest post, such that when the headrest posts are insertedinto the hole and slot, the attachment portion does not requireadditional parts to prevent substantial movement of the attachmentportion in any direction parallel with the attachment portion, and theattachment portion is sufficiently thick such that, when the system isinstalled over the headrest posts, the system does not requireadditional parts to prevent substantial rotation of the attachmentportion along an axis between the hole and the slot; and a utilityportion, the utility portion connected to the attachment portion andhaving sufficient width to accommodate a tablet computer; where theutility portion and attachment portion comprise a single piece of rigidmaterial; and where when the system is installed over the headrestposts, the utility portion is positioned between the attachment portionand a second vehicle seat directly behind the first vehicle seat. 14.The shelf system of claim 13, where the attachment portion is thickerthan the utility portion.
 15. The shelf system of claim 13, whereattachment portion utility portion have been joined together using asolvent to form the single piece of rigid material.
 16. The shelf systemof claim 13, where attachment portion and utility portion have beenwelded together to form the single piece of rigid material.
 17. Theshelf system of claim 13, where attachment portion, and utility portionhave been formed from a solid piece of rigid material bent to form theangle between the attachment portion and the utility portion.
 18. Theshelf system of claim 13, where attachment portion and utility portionhave been molded to form the single piece of rigid material.